Name-a-Day Calendar, November 28: Belmont Bruins
Page 22 of 365
Chosen in: 1995
Chosen by: A committee formed by university president William Troutt
In the mid-1990s, Belmont University was looking to elevate their athletics programs from NAIA competition directly to NCAA Division I.1 Their sports teams had been known as the Rebels for several decades beforehand — at least since they became a co-educational institution in the early 1950s — but their president, William Troutt, didn’t want that name to be associated with the university as their athletics reached a wider audience. In 1995, he formed a committee to pick a new name, and they decided on Bruins because the university had historically housed a bear on campus.
Read more about Troutt’s ahead-of-its-time rebranding decision here.
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The NCAA doesn’t allow schools to do this anymore, but they did at the time.
belmont is SO much cooler than lipscomb it's unreal